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Wilson notches adventurous first save

Wilson notches adventurous first save

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Brian Wilson

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DENVER -- He came into a 4-1 game in the ninth inning, and 32 pitches later, Brian Wilson had given his club a scare, giving up three hits to load the bases and walking a run in before securing his first save of the year.

But the real concern came when he threw a 1-0 slider to Tyler Colvin and turned his left ankle, bringing out manager Bruce Bochy and athletic trainer Dave Groeschner to check on Wilson with the game on the line.

"Just a little tweak, no big deal," Wilson said. "They came out to see how it was. It was really nothing. It's one of those things that they have to come check on. It is basically a non-factor."

The at-bat ended with a five-pitch walk to push a run in and leave the bases loaded for Marco Scutaro, whom Wilson popped up to right to end the game.

"He's fine," Bochy said. "He turned his ankle that one pitch. But he said he was fine. He was facing his last hitter. If he walks him, he was coming out, even though the game was still on the line. He had gone far enough."

Said Wilson, "I feel more locked in when bases are loaded. I've seen bases loaded a lot. It's not like I want to pitch in that situation, but when it comes down to it, when I do, I feel that I've been more successful than not."

Wilson made his first appearance in Wednesday's 17-8 blowout loss, entering the game with the Giants behind by eight. Thursday marked his first save situation of the season.

"Once I entered [Wednesday's] game, I knew for a fact I'd be throwing today -- that just the way baseball works," Wilson said. "The pitch count got up yesterday, got up a little high. It was nothing out of the norm. It was nice to get that first pressure situation out of the way [in Thursday's save]. Not that any game has any more pressure than another, but it's nice to get the first one under your belt."

After throwing 24 pitches Wednesday and 32 Thursday, Bochy said he'd most likely rest Wilson on Friday, but he wasn't surprised by Wilson's pressure-packed approach to closing out the game.